51 countries sign anti-doping memo

Spokesmen of 51 countries signed a memorandum on the fundamentals of anti-doping efforts in sports as soon as a respective international government consultative team finished its 5th session in Moscow today.

Vyacheslav Fetisov, State Sports Committee President, signed the memorandum for Russia.

The conferees called all countries of the world to coordinate their stances on a world anti-doping code, which is expected for adoption at a Copenhagen conference of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, early next March. The code is to enter into force at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

An approximate 98% of the code is ready, and the drafting team is finishing work at a final version to be offered to the Copenhagen conference, said Canada's Richard Pound, WADA President.

He thinks Mr. Fetisov ought to be entitled to one of the five seats to belong to Europe on the Agency top.